Several of us noticed you fall just as we halted at the river, and we all thought that, from the way in which you fell, you had been shot through the head or heart.

However, there was no time to inquire in that terrific storm of shot and shell.

In the morning, when the burying parties went down, we could find no signs of you, although we knew almost to a foot where you had fallen.
"We could only conclude at last that you had been carried off in the night by the Yanks, and as they would hardly take the trouble of carrying off a dead body, it occurred to us that you might, after all, be alive.

So the colonel went to Lee, who at once sent a trumpeter with a flag down to the river to inquire, and we were all mightily pleased, as you may imagine, when he came back with the news that you were not only a prisoner, but unwounded, having been only stunned in some way.
From the way you fell we suppose a round shot must have grazed your head; at least that is the only way we can account for it.
"Your horse came back unhurt to the troop, and will be well cared for until you rejoin us, which we hope will not be long.

Your boy kept the camp awake last night with his howlings, and is at present almost out of his mind with delight.